MEDIA TALK; New York Magazine: End of a Beginning

The contest began in 1968, a few months after New York Magazine, formerly The Herald Tribune's Sunday supplement, started publishing on its own. Printed two out of every three weeks (the third week was originally reserved for crossword puzzles devised by Stephen Sondheim), the contest, known as the New York Magazine Competition, quickly became a mainstay of the magazine, its mix of wordplay and puns beloved by readers and contestants alike.

But nothing lasts forever. After 973 separate contests, the competition's creator and editor, Mary Ann Madden, has decided to call it quits. And New York, which last week published the winning entries to the latest set of contests, has announced that the competition will be no more.

It was not for lack of interest. ''We're sorry to see it go,'' said a New York spokesman, Christopher Bonanos. The feature has long been one of the magazine's most popular, he added. Still, despite its popularity, New York's editors felt that the feature could not continue without Ms. Madden, who had run it since its inception. ''We agonized over it somewhat,'' Mr. Bonanos said. ''But it had evolved so much into Mary Ann's thing that we didn't feel that anyone else could do it justice.''

The competition's formula was a simple one, though it had seemingly limitless permutations. Invited to provide questions to answers supplied by the magazine, to supply comic definitions of common words or to complete writing assignments among many other things, contributors would vie for prizes of one- and two-year subscriptions with tongue-in-cheek offerings that were usually hilarious, though some were almost too painfully cute to mention.

For example, from the 1970's, there was this response to a request for a ''literary limerick,'' written as Richard Nixon might have done while still seeking the presidency: ''I'm coolest when faced with a threat/ Too calm and decisive to fret/ Six crises to date (I'm trying for eight)/ And I'm not even President yet.'' More recently, in the category of geographical puns, a reader offered, ''Religion is the Opiate of Damascus.''

Why did Ms. Madden leave? ''You take your 973 best shots,'' she said. ''And then it's time to stop.'' BERNARD STAMLER